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Thank Christ. That's all I can say. Thank Christ.
Consumer watchdog launches overdraft inquiry - The Washington Post
Seeded on Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:32 AM EST
Article Source: The Washington Post- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (20)
I heard this on the way to work this morning and thought, "Hallelujah."
Now, I've never been very good with money. My wife is ten times worse. We struggle to pay all of our bills on time. We're not poor, we're just facing the reality of our past decisions. Its tough, but we're chug chug chugging along.
What kills me, is when things are so tight, that our wonderful bank, the First Tennessee, will do something like this...
Go for coffee on the 14th ($6.00), hit up Red Box that night ($1.50), the next morning put gas in the car ($30.00), and on the 16th buy some medicine for the kid ($20.00). On the 18th, the phone bill is due, so we'll schedule the payment to come out then ($150.00).
On the morning of the 18th, here's how the charges go -
$150.00 phone
$30.00 gasoline
$20.00 medicine
$6.00 coffee
$1.50 Red Box
Now woe is me if the account gets low and we go under. And it has happened more than once I'm loathe to say. We'll get to $140.00 in the bank for one reason or another, and instead of paying them in order and getting one bounce fee for the phone bill, it pushes the phone bill through first, holds the rest, and we get dinged for the four small charges. $140 in overdraft fees. Ever have a $40 cup of coffee or watch a $36.50 movie? I have!
This is not a place for advice and books on how to manage money I'll thank you. While I'd appreciate the sentiments, I really would, those are already in progress. Things have been much better lately. I am just so frustrated with the bank and its practice, and am elated that it is being looked at.
- 6 votes
#1 - Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:48 AM ESTSo am I From my experience they hold stuff then process everything just before income drafts comes then they process all the withdrawals BEFORE THE draft. So they can get a nice wind fall of overdraft fees.
- 4 votes
Ain't that something GA Girl?! Thanks for sharing my frustration! Well, sorry that you do, I wish you didn't...
- 2 votes
I have also noted a lot of class action settlements lately with other banks regarding this same ugly practice. I have been notified previously, in the last couple of years, that I was part of four class action suits unless I went through the time and trouble to opt out of them. I am not a fan of lawsuits, but ones like this, I am very happy for people if they can get their hard-earned money back from these crooks.
- 4 votes
#2 - Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:52 AM ESTHalifax - have had the same exact thing happen. This Bureau has an impressive line up. It's always nice to see something being done for the regular guys
- 2 votes
#4 - Wed Feb 22, 2012 12:49 PM ESTYou're right, it is nice, all too rare. I read that in the BoA settlement for the same thing, people got back around .45 to the 1.00. I'm not sure if that was average or on the high/low end however. Still not everything, but you'd have to account for a lot of legit overdraft charges where dollar amounts weren't conveniently just lined up high to low. Still, in my case, that would be a few hundred dollars!
- 2 votes
Yeah, and none of us have a few hundred lying around.... and don't get me started on health care costs! ;~)) (ooh - that wasn't meant to be political - it was just suppose to be "more bills" rant)
- 3 votes
and don't get me started on health care costs! ;~)) (ooh - that wasn't meant to be political - it was just suppose to be "more bills" rant)
I moved to the States from Canada see, so I'm in full 100% agreement with you there.
- 2 votes
Halifax, our bank does the same thing.
- 2 votes
#5 - Wed Feb 22, 2012 1:10 PM ESTBLarg. (Thats the nearest phonetic spelling I can come up with for the disapproving sound, mixed with empathy, that I just uttered). I wonder if there is a bank that doesn't. Sounds like some semblance of reform is hopefully on the way anyways.
- 3 votes
Surprise, surprise! I just got off the phone with my bank (Community Bank) because of 2 $25 fees for insufficient funds. My running statement shows my deposit (which was more than the debit) , the debit ( and I still have a balance in the black) and then the fee putting me into the red. Twice in the past 3 weeks this has happened. The banks answer? You deposit shows first but it hasn't really "posted". The debit "posted" first putting me into the red, then the fee was taken, then my deposit was "posted"!
And, at one point, I was actually told by my local branch manager that they do post higher debits first since they assume the higher debit is the most important!! Really? I had a fit over that and they finally agreed to recredit my account.
- 3 votes
#6 - Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:34 PM ESTAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! Man you have all my sympathy and then some. As for that "assuming the higher debt is more important," ours does that too. Because gosh, they wouldn't want us to miss paying our rent cheque. What difference does it make when there is no limit to how far under you can go? They'd pay it no matter where down the list it fell.
And when I get the letter in the mail letting me know I'm under, I'm always greeted with, "For your convenience..." right off the bat. I am loving that people are getting some of that money back. Its a nasty system the banks are hitting us with.
- 2 votes
Another area in overdraft fees is online banking. It seems if you have planned on paying something and you check your account, you find out a payment prior to that did not go through. Then you have another one expected to go through and you realize not only will it be bounced, but it will be bounced three times and charged along with the first one before you can ever talk to someone about it. So you end up with six different bounced check fees all the time wondering what happened to the deposit you made. It always, always happens over a weekend.
Another thing is and I don't know if this still happens and I left the bank because of it, but when you have your paycheck automatically deposited into your account, some bank policies used to not allow you to access your money to pay bills online. I kept running into this and couldn't figure out why I was getting all of these bounced check fees. That was the reason...they were holding my paycheck to...something that no other bank I ever used did before.
Because of these things happening, I rarely use online bill pay anymore and keep my money with my employer(s) until I am ready to use it. That way the banks don't have it and it is in a safe place outside of my home or my bank. I can't touch it without going through a person that I trust completely and only until I am ready to use it.
Pon
- 2 votes
#7 - Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:08 PM ESTSounds like you got it figured out, good for you! That looks like a good system. Online banking hasn't given me problems, only the bank itself.
- 1 vote
I love Enoch's comment. Banks suck your soul and pocketbook.
- 2 votes
#8 - Thu Feb 23, 2012 9:59 PM ESTThey do. Not this last Christmas but the one before, we were dinged with six overdraft charges, four one day (which is the max they can give you in a day at my bank), two the next. (Soon to be former bank). This was about ten days before Christmas. We went in and asked them, please, can you take these off? It was this stacking high to low thing. They paid a huge bill instantly and held all these little ones until after and we were dinged and dinged.
Needless to say, obviously they said no. To them it was nothing, just some more lining in the pockets. $210 in total overdraft fees those two days, for "conveniently" paying our bills. For us, it meant a much smaller Christmas than we had planned. Not to say that was a bad thing, just meant we spent money on the kid and not ourselves. Which was fine, it was the principle. So heartless, it was a real soul-sucker.
- 1 vote
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